penhavspernaConfusable pair

Which to use

“penha” and “perna” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#7,960
“penha” frequency rank
#3,098
“perna” frequency rank
11058
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature penha perna
Definition rocha, pedra grande na superfície da terra ou do mar um dos membros posteriores humanos

Where the eye mixes penha and perna

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
penha
5 ch
perna

Look-alike desk: penha vs perna

A purely visual mix-up. penha (/ˈpɐj.ɲɐ/) and perna (/ˈpɛrnɜ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11058, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

penha is recorded at frequency rank #7,960, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɐj.ɲɐ/. perna is at rank #3,098, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɛrnɜ/.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 11058, this pair ranks #61,882 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of penha vs perna

Shared letters: aenp. Private to "penha": h. Private to "perna": r.

"penha" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "perna" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • penhaepnha · pehna · penah · penhha · pennha · pneha · ppenha
  • pernaeprna · penra · peran · pernna · perrna · pperna · prena

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "penha" and "perna" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpɐj.ɲɐ/ versus /ˈpɛrnɜ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "penha" vs "perna" - which ranks higher?
"perna" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,098 in our Portuguese list, against #7,960 for "penha". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "penha" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "perna" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #61,882 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "penha" and "perna" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "penha vs penhor". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #61,882 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list